1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an apparatus for measuring outer diameters of fuel rods of a nuclear fuel assembly and, more particularly, to an apparatus for measuring outer diameters of fuel rods of a nuclear fuel assembly, capable of moving up and down to measure the outer diameters of the fuel rods to accurately check for abnormalities in the outer diameters of the fuel rods, and rapidly and efficiently measuring the outer diameters of the fuel rods without having to disassemble the nuclear fuel assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Atomic power generation based on a light water reactor is designed to generate energy via the fission of nuclear fuel, use the energy to heat primary cooling water, transmits the energy of the heated primary cooling water to secondary cooling water in a steam generator to generate steam, convert the generated steam into rotational energy with a steam turbine, and produces electricity with a generator.
Generally, an apparatus for measuring the outer diameters of fuel rods of a nuclear fuel assembly is used to measure the outer diameters of the fuel rods that are standing upright in a fuel storage pool of the light water reactor.
The outer diameters of the fuel rods are measured using such an apparatus so as to check the fuel rods for abnormalities.
Examples of the related art include Korean Patent No. 10-0375046, entitled “Gap measuring method for spent fuel rods and its device,” Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2003-0081533, entitled “Method for ultrasound measurement of layer thickness of cladding tube for nuclear fuel,” and so forth.
However, such conventional apparatuses have a problem in that they cannot measure the outer diameter of each fuel rod over its length.
Due to this incomplete measurement of the outer diameter, it is impossible to accurately check the fuel rods for abnormalities and therefore to prevent the life span of the fuel rods from being reduced.